Twitter can be a powerful tool, if you know how to utilize it, it doesn’t take a genius to understand the basics. Twitter can be a wonderful social media outlet, connecting with real people, in real time, and about topics you or your business are interested in. So, why aren’t more people grabbing the opportunity and making social media work for them?

It’s simple, people are too busy. The average plumber doesn’t want to get home after a long hard days work, and then network online. It isn’t a viable option. That is why you have people like us to do that for you, let us create brand awareness, whilst you continue making money. Although, for business who wants to give it a go themselves, the least we can do is offer advice. So let’s start off simple…

Choose an appropriate name:

Now, you think this one was obvious right? Wrong. The amount of companies whose user handle is not even related to their business is unreal. Getting your company name as your user handle, will help you be more identifiable, it is all brand awareness.

Example
Natwest don’t own @Natwest and the amount of tweets I have seen to @Natwest is unbelievable. This is bad news for Natwest, as they can’t deal with their bad feedback properly.

Profile picture

A profile picture is vital, whether it be your brand logo, or a sensible photo of yourself (for example, this is your business account, no feather bowers and pints, yeah?) is important. People like to see the face of people they are talking to, it reaffirms that you are a person, with feelings, not just a business. Nobody wants to talk to an egg. Also, let it display your personality a bit, business accounts also want charming and funny conversations, not totally corporate.

Who to follow?

This where stuff gets a little more complex. Just following anyone, isn’t going to help your brand. You might like Katy Perry, but she certainly isn’t going to promote your business, save that for your personal account. Using the hashtag #bizitalk you can find other businesses, who are willing to promote you, as long as you do the same for them.

Interacting with followers

Now you have the correct followers, how do you interact correctly with them? This is where many business fail, even if they have done all the three things mentioned above correctly. If all you do is promote your business, people will get tired of spam. Have a sense of humour, tell jokes and be upbeat. Try to be engaging with followers, ask questions (How are you all feeling this morning? I need a strong coffee to wake my brain up!/Does anyone have experience with…?) Start discussions relevant to your business – if you were a baker, ask peoples' preferred cupcake topping, everyone loves feeling like their opinion counts, even if it is on Twitter.

Converting all of this into business…

Obviously we can’t give away all of our secrets, like magicians we too have a secret to our success.